Drink Driving Hospital Procedure

100% OF OUR CLIENTS WHO PROVIDED A SAMPLE WHILST IN HOSPITAL HAVE BEEN FOUND NOT GUILTY AT TRIAL

Drink driving is one of the most daunting offences a motorist can be charged with as for many, the consequences can be catastrophic due to the driving ban they face. Our lawyers understand the impact that this type of conviction can have upon a person’s life and realise how distressing a time this can be for you.

It is important that you realise from the outset that whilst you may have provided a sample that was above the limit, this does not always mean that you can be convicted of drink driving!

In many cases where you were involved in an accident, a sample of blood or urine may have been taken whilst being treated as a patient in hospital. These case differ greatly from those where a sample was taken at the police station and our success rate in this area is exemplary having never lost one of these cases since 2008.

How Do We Win Drink Driving Cases When a Sample Was Taken at Hospital?

Road Traffic Law is a very niche area of criminal law and there are literally only a handful of firms with genuine expertise in this area. As specialists, there are a number of strategies and techniques that have been developed and fine tuned over the years that result in successful acquittals but what makes us different from the rest?

The law provides added protection for someone when they are admitted as a patient in hospital and asked to provide a sample. The suspect is being asked to provide evidence against themselves and the procedure surrounding this is extremely strict. We have dealt with countless cases where a suspect has been taken to hospital and the officers make the same routine mistakes in every case we have reviewed.

When the correct procedure is not followed, the effect on the Crown’s case is often fatal which results in a successful acquittal.

In addition to the added legal protection for patients, hospital cases are ultimately also blood or urine cases which we also have a 100% success rate of defending. Taking a blood or urine sample involves several more procedural hurdles that the Crown Prosecution Service must overcome if they hope to secure an acquittal and it is much more complicated than a case only involving a breath sample.

When we take on a case, there are a number of aspects that we will scrutinise which include:

The procedure conducted by the officers involved in your case. It is vital that some aspects of the procedure are conducted correctly and we often find breaches that result in an acquittal

Exactly how the blood or urine sample was taken at hospital and what happened to it afterwards? We have successfully defended cases where the CPS have been unable to prove that the sample analysed was in fact that of our client!

Is the sample reliable enough to be used against you? Once a blood sample is taken it must be treated and analysed in a very particular way to satisfy the standards required by road traffic law. We have defended numerous cases where the sample is found to be unsuitable for analysis (due to various reasons) which have led to a verdict of not guilty.

Is the evidence itself strong enough? To secure a conviction in the UK the court must be satisfied that you are guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. To a non-specialist drink driving lawyer the evidence against you may seem substantial however when we review the strength of the case we almost invariably find flaws and have evidence thrown out. The result? The case against you simply isn’t strong enough to convince the court that you are guilty.

Whether all evidence has been disclosed is another area that results in acquittals. It is vital that you receive a fair trial and there are many cases where this is simply not possible due to certain evidence not being disclosed to us. At trial, we have successfully argued that this means you cannot enjoy a fair trial and the case has been dismissed.

What To Do If Charged With Drink Driving After Providing a Sample in Hospital

It is important you seek advice at the earliest opportunity. Not only could this make a huge different to the end result in your case but, you will hopefully find that it puts some of your concerns at ease and makes you feel better about the position you have found yourself in.

We provide free initial telephone advice and would be happy to help so please contact us to discuss. In cases where you have attended hospital, we are often able to establish whether or not you have a defence early on in the proceedings!

You must be confident in your representation and if our statistics are not enough to convince you of our expertise, we invite you to review our client testimonials and case studies.

If you have been given your own sample we strongly urge you to send this away for independent analysis. The booklet of approved laboratories can be found on the Royal Society of Chemistry website. If you are unsure where to send your sample then please contact us and one of our lawyers will be happy to recommend a laboratory.